It is known to protect goods being shipped in a shipping container from variations in temperature by providing a liner in the shipping container. Examples of such liners are disclosed in, PCT specification WO2010/046790 and EP Specification 1 780 147 A1.
The fitting of shipping container liners is not a simple matter as they must be secured to the lashing points of the shipping container in such manner that an air gap is created between the walls and roof of the shipping container and the liner. Also, the liner must not sag down and touch the goods in the container.
In WO 2010/046790 the attachment hooks on the liner are fixed. However the lashing points on containers are not always at the same location. The number of lashing points and the spacing between them varies. Consequently, some hooks are found to be offset from the respective lashing point and this makes satisfactory installation of the liner difficult or even impossible. In respect of the liner is disclosed in EP Specification 1 780 147 A1, using a single piece of webbing on each side of the container and threading it through a number of hooks before trying to pull it taut does not, in practice, work very well. The liner can still sag to an unacceptable extent.
It is not only shipping containers that need to be fitted with liners. The load spaces of some transport trucks and trailers have lashing points. These, if the goods being transported require it, have to be fitted with liners.
The term “shipping container” as used herein consequently encompasses not only the ISO type of container used mainly for sea transport but also trucks and trailers which have lashing points.
There are other circumstances where sheet material must be secured in place. An example is that of tarpaulins which are used to cover goods on, for example, an open vehicle. Tarpaulins usually have eyelets and a cord is threaded through the eyelets and around hooks or other protuberances on the vehicle. Threading the cord through the eyelets, then around whatever mountings are provided can be time-consuming. In other circumstances sheet material has to be hung to form a curtain.
In all these situations a rapid method of attaching the sheet material to a fixed structure is advantageous.